Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2009

The first among the firsts

The first known reference to Lafite dates to 1234. In the 1855 Classification it was listed first of the four First Growths, earning a reputation as 'the first among the firsts.' On August 8, 1868, Baron James de Rothschild bought the estate, which became the joint property of his three sons, and it has belonged to the family since. During the Second World War the chateau was occupied by the German army and its cellars were heavily plundered.

Lafite is the largest of the first growths. Reported vineyard figures differ: one source gives 107 hectares and another 112 hectares under vine, alongside nearly 50 hectares of greenery and parkland. The estate makes around 35,000 cases a year, of which 15,000 to 25,000 are the grand vin; roughly a third of the wine is released as the second wine, Carruades de Lafite. The vineyard is about 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot, and the grand vin usually takes 5% to 20% Merlot.

Baron Eric de Rothschild succeeded his uncle Elie in 1974 and directed the estate until 2018, when his daughter Saskia de Rothschild took over, the youngest woman to lead a First Growth Bordeaux estate.

Ripeness, and a severe cut

The 2009 growing season at Lafite began with a warm, humid spring that required close vigilance. Good weather arrived in June and lasted all summer, with a slight drought broken by welcome rains. Warm days and cool nights in September slowed ripening and pushed the harvest back, and the grapes were brought in under sunshine. The Merlot was picked from mid-September and the Cabernet Sauvignon from early October.

Selection was strict. Only about 45% of the crop went into the grand vin. The finished blend is reported as 82.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot, with the remaining half-percent described as Petit Verdot by one source and Cabernet Franc by another. One critic noted that the Merlot share was the highest in the Lafite blend since 1995. Robert Parker recorded 13.59% alcohol and called it 'among the most powerful Lafites ever made.' Another critic recorded 13%.

Parker scored it 99+ in February 2012, writing that it missed a perfect score only because it had closed down slightly, and calling it 'their greatest wine since the amazing 2003' with the stuffing to last 50 years or more. James Suckling gave it 100 points the same month: 'The second you put your nose in the glass, you know that it is 100 points.' Both men compared it to Lafite's 1959. Not everyone agreed. Neal Martin, tasting it blind in January 2013, scored it 95 and wrote that he had expected a little more.

Priced for Hong Kong

The 2009 arrived at the height of Chinese demand for Lafite. When the first growths released their 2009 futures in June 2010, Lafite, Margaux and Mouton came out at 450 euros a bottle, about $550, at a time when 2009 was being called the most expensive young vintage ever sold from Bordeaux. Lafite released only half the quantity of its first tranche of the year before, and a Los Angeles retailer predicted the wine would retail at over $1,200. Negociants reported that Hong Kong was showing far more interest than the United States.

Nobody could say exactly why Lafite became China's wine. A TIME report in 2011 listed the theories: that it was easy to pronounce, that the Lafite branch of the Rothschilds ran one of the few chateau websites in Chinese, and the estate's own marketing. When Lafite let it be known that bottles of its 2008 would be embossed with the Chinese symbol for the lucky number 8, prices for that vintage jumped 17% overnight.

On October 29, 2010, at an auction in Hong Kong of wine sent straight from the chateau's cellars, a case of the not-yet-bottled 2009 sold for about $70,000 (43,120 pounds). Before the sale the vintage had been priced at around $18,000 a case. The same auction set a world record for a single bottle of wine when three bottles of 1869 Lafite sold for about $232,000 each. One London merchant said of the bidding: 'These prices are not a reflection of the market place.'

The fall, and the fakes

The peak did not last. En primeur prices for Lafite had risen eightfold between 2006 and 2010, and by 2012 Chinese investors who bought the 2009 and 2010 as futures found themselves holding high-priced bottles with no easy way out, as Lafite's futures prices fell by up to 50%. In April 2012 Lafite priced its 2011 about 30% below the 2010. One writer, looking back in 2017, called Lafite the most popular wine in China during the boom years of 2009 to 2011 and noted that prices had since dropped significantly.

High prices brought counterfeits. Analysts suspected that 50% to 70% of the wine labeled Lafite in China was fake. In mid-2012 the estate said that all of its bottles from the 2009 vintage onward would carry an anti-fraud capsule seal with a 13-digit code that could be checked online. A later account describes the seal as a unique 'bubble code' that cannot be reproduced, placed on capsules bottled since February 2012; the two accounts do not agree on exactly which bottles carry it. In November 2012 police in Wenzhou seized nearly 10,000 bottles of suspected counterfeit Lafite.

In October 2026 a US retailer listed a single bottle at $1,299.99, and another offered three magnums at $7,200.

The numbers

Vineyard

107 hectares by one account, 112 by another; the largest of the first growths

Grand vin selection

About 45% of the 2009 crop

Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

99+ (February 2012)

James Suckling

100 (February 2012)

Lisa Perrotti-Brown

97 (2019)

Neal Martin

95 (2013)

Timeline

1. 1234

   The first known reference to Lafite.

2. 1855

   Lafite is listed first among the four First Growths in the Bordeaux Classification.

3. Aug 8, 1868

   Baron James de Rothschild buys the estate.

4. 1974

   Baron Eric de Rothschild takes over direction of the estate from his uncle Elie.

5. Sep 2009

   Harvest of the 2009 begins with the Merlot in mid-September; the Cabernet follows in early October.

6. Jun 2010

   The first tranche of 2009 Lafite is released at 450 euros a bottle.

7. Oct 2010

   Lafite lets it be known that its 2008 bottles will carry the Chinese symbol for 8.

8. Oct 29, 2010

   A case of the unbottled 2009 sells for about $70,000 at auction in Hong Kong.

9. Feb 2012

   Robert Parker scores the 2009 at 99+ and James Suckling at 100.

10. Apr 2012

    Lafite prices its 2011 about 30% below the 2010 as the Chinese market cools.

11. Nov 2012

    Police in Wenzhou seize nearly 10,000 bottles of suspected fake Lafite.

12. 2018

    Saskia de Rothschild succeeds her father as head of the estate.

13. Mar 22, 2026

    A US critic retastes the 2009 and scores it 100 points, with a drinking window of 2026 to 2065.

The world in 2009

• Jan 3, 2009

  The first block of the Bitcoin blockchain is created.

• Jan 20, 2009

  Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

• Jun 11, 2009

  The H1N1 'swine flu' outbreak is declared a global pandemic.

• Jun 25, 2009

  Michael Jackson dies, setting off worldwide grief.

• Jul 22, 2009

  The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century crosses Asia and the Pacific.

• Sep 21, 2009

  China completes the world's first clinical trial of an H1N1 vaccine.

• Dec 1, 2009

  The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force in the European Union.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

Every grade and recorded sale for this wine

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2009 is number 43 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (29 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• A case of 2009 Lafite sold for about $70,000 at auction before the wine had even been bottled.
• At the same 2010 sale, three bottles of 1869 Lafite set a world record at about $232,000 each.
• In 2012 the estate said every bottle from the 2009 vintage onward would carry a coded anti-counterfeit seal.
• Only about 45% of the 2009 crop was good enough for the grand vin.
• Lafite released only half as much wine in its first 2009 tranche as it had a year earlier.
• The Lafite owners partnered with a Chinese state-owned investment company to plant vineyards in Shandong province.